Bali, Bahia sign deal

JAKARTA (JP): Bali has signed an economic agreement with Brazil's Bahia province to promote tourism, agriculture and trade.

Bali's governor, Ida Bagus Oka, and Bahia's governor, Cesar Augosto Rabello, signed the agreement Saturday in Denpasar, Bali, Antara reported over the weekend.

Besides the deal with Bahia, Bali has signed similar agreements with Darwin in Australia, Okinawa in Japan and Ceiju in South Korea, Oka said.

He said Bali and Bahia were similar because they were both coffee producers and popular tourist destinations.

"We can learn from Bahia how to improve the quality of our coffee as an export commodity and our small businesses which make souvenirs can also learn. This is a reciprocal deal," he said.

In the first half of this year, souvenir and other handicraft exports from Bali were worth US$85.5 million, up from $80 million for the same period last year.

Bali's agricultural exports were worth $3.9 million from January to June this year, up from $2.8 million for the same period last year. (icn)